The 2nd Street Festival welcomes thousands of people over two days

“It’s just a great way to attract people from all over to this historic area and really highlight amazing businesses and people,” Stenhouse said. “I’m amazed at how much it has grown and yet it still feels intimate.”

For 36 years, Venture Richmond has hosted the 2nd Street Festival, a two-day, free-admission event celebrating the community once known as the “Harlem of the South.” It welcomes dozens of local Black-owned restaurants and businesses to showcase their work as well as highlight local performers.

All along North Second Street, between East Broad and East Jackson streets, thousands of people wandered from vendor to vendor. Smoke rose and billowed from grill smokers positioned on the sidewalks. Visitors could smell the burning wood chips and hear the sounds of saxophones and trumpets coming from the small stage.

In a white tent near Second and East Marshall streets, local Richmond artist David Marion greeted potential customers – some strangers, some longtime friends.

He shook hands and passed out business cards, letting some know he would see them at church on Sunday.

Marion began participating in the 2nd Street Festival as a patron and it has always held a special place in his heart. Now, as an artist whose work focuses on highlighting the Black experience through themes of love, strength and desperation, he said it’s always reassuring to share culture and support other Black creators in such an influential, historic neighborhood.

So in 2015, when he began selling his work as a participating artist, he said he felt like he had achieved success as part of a larger city collective.

“I remember coming here and being exposed to these events. It has always been my dream,” Marion said. “For it to come to fruition and for me to be invited to be a part of something that is really close to my heart.”

“That was the moment I came full circle,” he added.

The festival, which celebrates Black-owned businesses and culture, both present and past, ends near the home of famed Jackson Ward resident Maggie L. Walker.

Walker, born in 1864, was a businesswoman, newspaper publisher, teacher, activist and community leader. She was the first black woman to start a bank and a key figure in the history of Richmond, as well as the Jackson Ward community.

For Scott Teodorski, superintendent of the Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, the event encapsulates all of the things Walker worked for, not only during her lifetime, but also for future generations.

“I think if Maggie were here she would be interested; she would be really interested in it, because that’s really what it’s all about,” Teodorski said.